Resilience and Sustainability bill

HONOLULU (July 7, 2014) — Hawai‘i State Sen. J. Kalani English (Maui-7) on Monday applauded the signing into law of SB2742, a bill that establishes the Pacific-Asia Institute for Resilience and Sustainability.

English is Chair of the Senate Committee on Transportation and International Affairs, introduced the measure, and worked with stakeholders and colleagues throughout session to see the bill pass out of the legislature.

The measure creates a revolutionary and innovative public-private partnership to better approach community resilience and improve how the world addresses disruptive changes through necessary collaboration on a global level. It would in essence create a significant and well-trained network of support for the issues facing the Pacific-Asia region. The Office of the Lieutenant Governor will act as the State’s liaison to assist the Institute in carrying out its duties, and the Institute will be eligible for grants and subsidies under chapter 42F.

“A lot of people put so much work into creating the Pacific-Asia Institute for Resilience and Sustainability and I am thrilled that the governor signed it into law today. Right now, here in Hawaii, we have concerns about rising seawater threatening our shoreline, and as lawmakers we are looking ahead at how we will face these challenges and adapt to changes. The foundation of the Institution is based on helping communities become resilient and sustainable through preventive measures: assess vulnerability, identify solutions and provide support.

“An example of the Institute’s work in practice is the collaboration of the State of Hawaii’s Department of Defense (DoD), the Pacific Disaster Center with Hawaiian Electric, U.S. Pacific Command, IBM and Mehta Tech Inc. to study the potential enhancement of the security, reliability and dependability of the electric grid on Oahu, and ways to apply analytics to better predict potential risks such as natural disaster,” he added. “The partners will look at how to improve the overall grid reliability and bridge the gap between efforts to integrate alternative energy solutions and efficiently manage consumption.

“We’ll see more of these types of efforts thanks to the establishment of the Institute.”